Crispin Duenas has loved his sport since he was a child and sits eighth in London after the Olympic ranking round

LONDON - One time, Crispin Duenas saw a hawk snare a pigeon in full flight. It happened about 70 metres from where he was standing on the archery range, where he spends eight hours a day, many days a week, practising to become an Olympian.

Twenty minutes from the heart of downtown Toronto, the range is hidden from sight by a thick row of trees on the main road. Duenas has to park his car on the side of a long entry road, gather his bow, arrows and other equipment and navigate a narrow dirt path down a steep hill to the quiet, wide-open field.

Duenas has seen just about everything there. He has seen people use the field for picnics, and he has seen others embrace the seclusion by smoking marijuana, shooting pellet guns or, in the case of the hawk, by redefining the meaning of the term “takeout lunch.”

“By the end, there was nothing left but blood and feathers,” Duenas said with a smile. “It was so frickin' awesome.”

He paused a beat.

“Well, probably not for the pigeon,” he said.

Duenas, 26, is the only child of Filipino immigrants. His father is a civil engineer and his mother works in commerce. And somehow, while friends and peers drifted to other sports and other pursuits, Duenas fell in love with archery.

How? Robin Hood.

Duenas owned no fewer than three versions of the movie, from the Kevin Costner classic to the parody of that classic, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. And he liked Westerns, too, or very specific parts of them, anyway.

“The cowboys would get shot with arrows, and the cowboy would pull it out and toss it to the side,” he said. “And I'd say, ‘why don't you keep that arrow? That's pretty cool.'”

On Friday, Duenas began his second trip to the Olympics with a strong performance on a much better field than the one he calls home in Toronto. He placed eighth in the ranking round, held at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground, with a score of 678 - out of a possible high score of 720 - and will face Egypt's Ahmed El-Nemr in the round of 64 Monday.

He finished 39th at the Beijing Olympics four years ago, and is aiming to finish in the top 10 in London. (Im Dong-hyun, a legally blind archer from South Korea, finished first in the ranking session, breaking his own world record in the process, with a score of 699 points.) Archery requires borderline fanaticism for the technical minutiae in the equipment. And a fondness for repetition is also required. On a normal practice day, Duenas can walk for as much as two kilometres just to retrieve his own arrows after rounds of shooting, beating a path in the grass between his line and the target, positioned 70 metres away.

“Our sport seems to attract people who are technically oriented,” long-time archery coach Joan McDonald said. “We have a lot of engineers and I.T. people, and people like that. And he is definitely in that category.”

Duenas graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in physics, but he had a penchant for detail much earlier. He started playing the flute in Grade 1, learned how to play the trumpet in Grade 5 and taught himself how to play the drums in Grade 10. (He also had an interest in shooting for sport, but never got much support at home for that one: “They didn't want any guns in the house, and a bow and arrow seemed a little bit more logical.”) “My parents never had me idle,” he said. “I was either in swimming lessons or skating lessons or karate or gymnastics. I was always doing something. I was never sitting at home watching TV or playing my Nintendo or PlayStation - although I did have them for my real off-time.”

His father, Rolly, tells the story of a time the family was walking through a local mall during a sidewalk sale, when stores pushed their merchandise into the hall. He said the family was halfway up an escalator when his son noticed another child playing the piano.

Crispin Duenas fixed his eye on the piano, then told his parents he wanted one.

“I thought it was like any kid who wanted to do this - who wanted to do that and then would forget about it,” Rolly Duenas said.

Soon after, Crispin returned home to announce he had registered for piano lessons.

He was 10 or 11 years old at the time, his father said.

“He's a worker,” McDonald said. “I never have to say, ‘Crispin, are you going to practice?,' because he's always there. In fact, I have to do the opposite: ‘Crispin, you can't practise tomorrow.' And he'll go, ‘ohhhh, but I want to.'”

Teacher's college beckons after London, and a journey to a full-time job, a career away from archery. But Duenas does not plan to retire. He enjoys other pursuits, but his home is out on the range, with the unkempt grass, the peace, his bow and his quiver of arrows.

“I love this sport,” he said, basking in the hot Toronto sun earlier this month. “I mean, you get to spend eight hours a day in this.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Crispin Duenas has loved his sport since he was a child and sits eighth in London after the Olympic ranking round

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.